Carl Panzram (June 28, 1891 – September 5, 1930) was a serial killer, rapist, arsonist and burglar. In jailhouse confessions and his autobiography, he claimed that he had committed 21 murders—most of which could not be corroborated—and over 1,000 sodomies of boys and men. After a series of imprisonments and escapes, he was executed in 1930 for the murder of a prison employee at Leavenworth Federal Penitentiary.

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Born in East Grand Forks, Minnesota, the son of East Prussianimmigrants Johann "John" and Matilda Panzram, he was raised on his family's farm with five siblings. In 1903, at the age of 12, he stole some cake, apples, and a revolver from a neighbor's home. Soon after, his parents sent him to the Minnesota State Training School. While there, he was repeatedly beaten and tortured by staff members in what attendees dubbed "The Painting House", because children would leave "painted" with bruises and blood. Panzram hated this place of torture so much that he decided to burn it down, and did so without detection.[1]

In late 1905, he was released from the school.[2] By his teens, he was an alcoholic and was repeatedly in trouble with the authorities, often for burglary and theft. He ran away from home at the age of 14. He often traveled via train cars; he later claimed that on one train he was gang raped by a group of hobos.

In adulthood, Panzram became a thief, stealing anything from bicycles to yachts, and was caught and imprisoned multiple times. While incarcerated, Panzram frequently got into trouble by attacking guards and refusing to follow their orders. The guards retaliated, subjecting him to beatings and other punishments. In 1907, at the age of 15, after getting drunk in a saloon in Montana, Panzram enlisted in the United States Army. Shortly thereafter, rebellious against any authority, he was convicted of larceny and served a prison sentence from 1908 to 1910 at Fort Leavenworth's United States Disciplinary Barracks. Secretary of War (and future President) William Howard Taft approved the sentence. Panzram later claimed that any goodness left in him was smashed out during his Leavenworth imprisonment.

In his autobiography, Panzram wrote that he was "rage personified" and that he would often rape men whom he had robbed. He was noted for his great physical strength, which aided him in overpowering most men he encountered. He also engaged in vandalism and arson. By his own admission, one of the few times he did not engage in criminal activities was when he was employed as a strikebreaker against union employees. On one occasion, he tried to sign aboard as a ship's steward on a U.S. Army transport vessel, but was discharged when he reported to work intoxicated.

On June 1, 1915, Panzram burgled a house in Astoria, Oregon, but was arrested soon after while attempting to sell some of the stolen items.[3] He was sentenced to seven years in prison, to be served at the Oregon State Penitentiary in Salem, where he arrived on June 24. On arrival, he became inmate number 7390 and was under the supervision of warden Harry Minto,[3] who believed in harsh treatment of inmates, including beatings and isolation, among other disciplinary measures.[3] Later, Panzram stated that he swore he "would never do that seven years and I defied the warden and all his officers to make me."[3]

Panzram helped fellow inmate Otto Hooker escape from the prison; while evading capture, Hooker killed Minto. The crime marked Panzram's first known involvement in a murder, as an accessory before the fact.[3][4]

Panzram was disciplined several times while at Salem, including 61 days in solitary confinement, before escaping on September 18, 1917. After two shootouts he was recaptured and returned to the prison. On May 12, 1918, he escaped once again by sawing through the bars of his cell, and caught a freight train heading east. He began going by the name John O’Leary and shaved off his moustache. He would never return to the Northwest.[3]

In August 1920, Panzram burgled the New Haven, Connecticut home of Taft, whom he held responsible for his Leavenworth imprisonment. He stole a large amount of jewelry[5] and bonds, as well as Taft's Colt M1911.45 caliber handgun. He then began a murder spree that spanned eight years and multiple countries. With the money stolen from Taft he bought a yacht, the Akiska. He lured sailors away from New York bars, got them drunk, raped and shot them with Taft's pistol, and dumped their bodies near Execution Rocks Light in Long Island Sound. He claimed to have killed ten in all. The sailor murders ended only after the Akiska ran aground and sank near Atlantic City, New Jersey, his last two potential victims escaping to parts unknown. Panzram then caught a ship to Africa and landed in Luanda, Portuguese Angola. He later claimed that while there, he raped and killed an 11- or 12-year-old boy. In his confession to this murder, he wrote: "His brains were coming out of his ears when I left him and he will never be any deader." He also claimed that he hired a rowing boat with six rowers, shot the rowers with a German Luger pistol and threw their bodies to the crocodiles.[6]

Panzram later wrote that he had also contemplated mass killings and other acts of mayhem, such as poisoning a city's water supply with arsenic, or scuttling a British warship in New York harbor to provoke a war between Britain and the United States.

In 1928 Panzram was arrested for burglary in Washington, D.C. During his interrogation he voluntarily confessed to killing two boys.[15][16] In light of his extensive criminal record, he received a 25-years-to-life sentence and was transferred to Leavenworth Federal Penitentiary. "I'll kill the first man that bothers me," Panzram told the warden. Based on this threat, he was given a solitary job in the prison laundry room. On June 20, 1929 he killed Robert Warnke, foreman of the prison laundry, by battering him to death with an iron bar, and was sentenced to death.[17] He refused to appeal his sentence, and responded with death threats to offers from human rights activists to intervene on his behalf.

While on death row Panzram was befriended by a prison guard named Henry Lesser (1902–1983), who provided him with writing materials.[18][19] While awaiting execution he wrote a detailed summary of his crimes and nihilistic philosophy.[20] It began with a straightforward statement:

“

In my lifetime I have murdered 21 human beings, I have committed thousands of burglaries, robberies, larcenies, arsons and, last but not least, I have committed sodomy on more than 1,000 male human beings. For all these things I am not in the least bit sorry.

Panzram was hanged on September 5, 1930. While the noose was being put around his neck, he allegedly spat in his executioner's face and declared, "I wish the entire human race had one neck and I had my hands around it!"[21] (Similar statements have been attributed to the Roman Emperor Caligula, and other monarchs throughout history.) When asked by the executioner if he had any last words, Panzram barked, "Yes, hurry it up, you Hoosier bastard! I could kill a dozen men while you're screwing around!"[6] He was buried at the Leavenworth Penitentiary Cemetery.[22]

^Stevens Point Journal, October 8, 1928, "Burglar at Taft's Admits Two Murders"

^[See also "Syracuse New York Journal" Oct 6, 1928. Panzram's confession to killing a boy at Pier 28 on League island near Philadelphia in August 1928 was confirmed; but Boston police were unable to corroborate his other confession, the murder of a boy in Charlestown, MA.]